FM Nirmala Sitharaman chairs pre-budget consultation

NirmalaNew Delhi: Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will hold her first pre-budget consultation meeting with farm bodies and agricultural experts from Tuesday onwards. The consultation meeting will end on June 23.

The FM is scheduled to meet economists, banks and financial institutions as well as industry chambers. The state finance ministers are also expected to give their suggestions for Budget 2019-20 to the Centre during the GST Council meeting slated for June 20.

Nirmala Sitharaman would be presenting the first Budget of the Modi 2.0 government on July 5. She would address matters concerning the slowing economy, financial sector troubles like rising NPAs and liquidity crisis in NBFCs, job creation, private investments, exports revival, agrarian crisis and raise public investment without compromising on fiscal prudence.

As per reports, a special focus will be on giving a boost to allied farm activities such as fishery, poultry and animal husbandry.

It may be noted that the government has created a separate fishery department and appointed a cabinet rank minister to promote the allied farm sector.

Most of the farm bodies have already submitted their memoranda of demands to the finance ministry for consideration.

As is the custom, the NDA government had presented an interim Budget for 2019-20 in February ahead of the general elections.

Now, the current government will be presenting a regular Budget for the fiscal.